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Read-Along Update (Blogmas)

Our read-along for I’ll Be Home For Christmas started on Monday. We’re reading one story from the short story collection a day until Christmas Eve. I was very much excited about this years festive read-along, chatting to friends about wonderfully festive stories? The best way to get in to the festive spirit!

So far we’ve read four stories in the anthology, one of them being a poem. There hasn’t been a story so far that i’ve actively disliked. Some i have been less fond of, but overall, i have liked each in their own way.

The poem that kicked us off was Home and Away by Benjamin Zephaniah, and this was based heavily upon the work that Crisis (the charity associated with this anthology) do. It was a very good insight in to the troubles that some people face in the winter and around Christmas time specifically. I really enjoyed the fact this was the first point of contact with these ‘home’ stories and it hit home some of the more serious issues with this time of the year. It set the tone nicely for the reader to truly appreciate the stories that followed.

Day two was Ghosts of Christmas Past by Non Pratt. It was my first experience of Non Pratt’s writing, and it without a doubt made me want to read everything else of the shelves by her. This was a classic ‘YA’ story, a little bit fluffy and cosy and had two very pretty people falling in love. I adored it. These are the stories that i want to read around Christmas time, and so far this is my favourite story.

On the third day, we had If Only In My Dreams by Marcus Sedgwick. I was not expecting the Sci-Fi aspects to this story at all. I went in to this anthology thinking a lot of it would be contemporary stories of families and friends at Christmas, this was completely different and a wonderful surprise. This was one of the heavier stories, but i really enjoyed the difference in it.

Yesterdays story was my first experience of Cat Clarke’s writing with Family You Choose. This is another of my favourites so far. I loved the way this was told, the things you needed to figure out along the way (e.g. relationships) and the hints to the main characters life you were given in such few pages. It also felt like wonderful character development within such a short place of time. I really did enjoy this story. It’s made me want to read more from Cat Clarke definitely!

I hope everyone is loving the read-along, and make sure to use the hashtag #TLCCReadAlong to join in the conversation! Also in case you missed it we announced our blog tour for the read-along which starts tomorrow! Take a look at THIS post for more information.